


guns & ships

by cpiel



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Light Angst, seriously it's very light angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-02 14:52:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6570496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cpiel/pseuds/cpiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>garrus vakarian and shepard are completely unexpected. it's not unwelcome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> ok so this does include my shepard artemis! she had a brief relationship with alenko but you know how me1 is (forcing you into relationships basically?) and left him behind on virmire (i never saved ashley before aah)  
> this is my first work here and it's kind of generic but shakarian was basically my first big ship so!! very sentimental  
> SORRY TO RANT anyways here goes  
> (the lowercase is intentional- if this makes anything hard to read please let me know and i can update it for you)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: made formatting changes so it's easier to read.

when garrus and shepard first met, he’d seen the clear ambition and drive artemis held. after all, she was named after a goddess. she was made to be something greater.  
once on a mission on their hunt for saren he stated “i take it you’re someone who’s never satisfied.” he had seen how hard she worked, and yet she never took a break.  
“watch it, vakarian. i am your commander, you know.” she said it jokingly, but then again, it was one of their first missions together, and she wasn’t going to take insubordination.  
“you’re like me. i'm never satisfied.”  
she stared him down. he could tell she was trying to read him and he could feel something deep within himself.

 

artemis starts talking to kaidan a lot more than she used to. garrus assumes that something is happening there. he tries to comfort himself by saying they’re just friends, but there are whispers on the normandy that they are, indeed, “a thing.” alenko is kind, gentle. different from what she’s used to. garrus supposes it’s a nice change. not that he’s jealous or anything.  
shockingly, she leaves alenko behind on virmire, but not without tears. she tells him that it was truly what kaidan wanted.  
“he was always trying to be a fucking hero. he asked me to do this. said it was for the best. why did i listen?” she says through her tears.  
“artemis, everything happens for a reason. you did it because it was what he wanted. alenko wouldn’t want you to beat yourself up over this.”  
it’s the first time he says her name. she cries into his arms.

 

after virmire, shepard spends a lot more time with him. sometimes, she'll just sit and do her work while he repairs the mako. the silence isn't bad. other times, she brings dinner for both of them down while they talk about nearly anything. he goes on a lot more ground missions with her than he did before. their friendship is growing, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. the crew knows better than to gossip, though.

 

they go to the citadel a bit more than they used to, too. artemis will bring him down with her most of the time, and they’ll sit in front of the huge window. there’s still a sense of wonder surrounding the vastness of space, even though they constantly travel through it.

 

“do you miss earth?” he asks one day, as they sit and watch ships fly past the citadel. they’re at the point where he can ask her that now.  
“only sometimes. it wasn’t good by any means, but they were my family at the time. i should tell you more one day.”  
“you should.”

 

they seem to be messaging each other all the time after he leaves to go back to c-sec.  
one day the messages stop and no matter how hard he tries he can’t get a response.  
**GV:** _shep, please respond. i’m actually freaking out. did i do something wrong?_  
the news broadcasts a day later that the great commander had died. he gets messages from the old crew, but he can’t seem to open them. he resigns from his post at c-sec. everyone who works there gives him a sad look when he packs up his desk.

 

he gets on a ship that’s bound for omega. he knows that the gangs there run free. there was a human term artemis used to use- archangel. when a mission seemed to be going downhill, she would ask for one to save them. miraculously, things would look up and she would smile. garrus figures he can give others that hope. if that means wiping out some of the groups that killed innocent people regularly, so be it. as the ship leaves for omega, garrus can see the citadel's big window. as the ship leaves for omega, garrus can see the citadel's big window. for a brief moment, he thinks he can see artemis there, looking out at him. the ship’s captain announces that they’re now on course to omega, as the window gets smaller, and smaller, and smaller until it’s gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> he calls himself archangel, something biblical she had told him about once. it seems ironic now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello i'm so sorry i haven't updated in so long i'm so busy rn!! once school gets out i'll post more i promise  
> also i'd like to apologize bc it's so short :(

“fuck,” garrus mumbles under his breath. his visor, on the verge of shutting down, tells him that the 3 biggest gangs on omega are coming after him on this bridge. he can take some of them down easily, but other members are more difficult to take down. while he has ammunition to last him some time, there’s a nagging voice in his head telling him something is going to go wrong.

 

they keep swarming the bridge. he has no idea how many there are, but he figures that there are more than he could ever take by himself. if he had his squad, maybe. sudden yells of “they aren’t with us!” makes him through his scope.

 

 _it can’t be,_ he thinks. the person in his scope looks exactly like artemis.

_is this a hallucination?_

 

the woman has 2 strangers behind her, helping her take down those making their way across the bridge. she moves out of his sight, but his visor alerts to movement in the stairwell. he prays to whatever gods he thinks are out there that this really is happening, that someone’s here to help. he holds up a finger when he sees them stand next to him, sniping a straggler.

 

when he turns around, it’s her. artemis, in the flesh, grinning like it’s her birthday. her face is riddled with new scars that nearly give off an orange glow. both the people standing behind her look uncomfortable, like they don’t like being under her command. she steps forward like she’s going to touch him, but instead opens her arms.

 

their already brief conversation is cut shorter by the fact that the gangs are relentless, sending out more and more people. she leaves one of her crew behind, jacob, garrus thinks his name is, to help keep him safe. she leaves with the other woman, and he can hear the gunshots downstairs as they pick off the rest.

 

artemis comes back upstairs when she thinks they’re finished. the last thing he saw, though, was her panicked face as the gunshot hit him in the face.

**Author's Note:**

> some "Hamilton" lyrics are in here b/c i've been listening to it a ton lately  
> i hope this was ok!! i haven't actually written anything like this recently so i'm rusty  
> please leave any kind of feedback! i really do appreciate it.


End file.
